NPD Predicts Record Mac Sales

Market researcher NPD predicts that Apple will break the quarterly sales records it set for Macs last quarter.

The firm expects Apple to sell between 4.1 million and 4.3 million Macs during the last quarter of the year, breaking last quarter's record of 3.89 million. That would make for annualized growth of between 22% and 28%, which is in line with last quarter's growth rate of 27%.

A big factor is the release of the new MacBook Air in October.

Microsoft still sells far more copies of Windows--total PC sales are on track to hit 409 million next year, according to Gartner. Even so, Microsoft is increasingly under assault from the iPad and other tablets on the low end, and the Air and other MacBooks keep Apple strong in high-end computer sales as well, particularly in the U.S.